RallyIQ

ATP · Left-handed · 30 charted matches · 1988–2011

Thomas Muster

Archetype: Avoids the wide serve · Ad-court slider

Against an average opponent

Serve points won 64.3% ±2.8 raw 61.1% · tour 63.4% · 2,966 points
Return points won 38.8% ±2.9 raw 38.3% · tour 36.6% · 2,988 points

Serve and return points won, refitted against every opponent at once so a record built on weak or strong opposition is put on the same scale. Career, all surfaces, with a 90% margin. Raw is the plain share of points won.

Value per 100 shots

Direction choice ±0.00 ±0.08 better than 58% of ATP · raw ±0.00
Shot selection −0.10 ±0.17 better than 40% of ATP · raw −0.10
Execution +0.62 ±0.35 better than 87% of ATP · raw +0.66
Tactical adaptability +0.11 first serves toward what's working, set to set · 30 matches
Adaptation speed +0.01 same, every two to three service games · per 100 first serves
Long-rally execution −0.24 ±0.51 shot 9 on v own earlier rally shots · 3,095 shots · better than 47% of ATP
Points left on the table 2.81 per 100 shots vs best direction · lower than 30% of ATP

Points gained per 100 shots compared with an average tour player in the same position, adjusted for the strength of the opponents faced, with a 90% margin (shots clustered by match). Raw is before the opponent adjustment. Built on 17,303 shots.

Shot expected value

The share of points Thomas Muster goes on to win after each option in the positions they face most often, shrunk toward tour average when the sample is small. Showing the 8 most-used options; teal marks the best one with at least 30 shots.

Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your backhand side

position worth 46% to the average player · 1,258 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
BH through the middle 26% 53.0%±4.4 43.7%
BH crosscourt 21% 51.6%±4.9 47.6%
FH inside-in 15% 53.6%±5.7 54.7%
BH down the line 14% 44.5%±5.9 46.4%
FH inside-out 8% 49.9%±7.5 51.8%
FH through the middle 7% 50.9%±7.8 45.2%
BH slice through the middle 5% 33.8%±8.7 35.1%
BH slice down the line 2% 42.8%±11.5 37.1%

Long rally, 9+: drive to your backhand side

position worth 46% to the average player · 957 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
BH through the middle 29% 41.9%±4.7 43.8%
BH crosscourt 20% 44.9%±5.6 48.0%
BH down the line 15% 45.5%±6.5 46.5%
FH inside-in 10% 57.0%±7.5 54.3%
BH slice through the middle 7% 42.4%±8.8 35.1%
FH through the middle 6% 54.1%±9.3 46.1%
FH inside-out 5% 57.3%±9.8 52.6%
BH slice down the line 4% 36.3%±10.1 35.8%

Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your forehand side

position worth 44% to the average player · 929 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
FH crosscourt 63% 48.9%±3.3 46.6%
FH down the line 16% 42.7%±6.2 44.7%
FH through the middle 14% 47.2%±6.7 41.5%
FH slice crosscourt 3% 34.5%±11.8 30.9%
FH down the line + approach 2% 66.3%±12.5 69.3%
FH slice through the middle 2% 22.6%±11.6 24.5%

Long rally, 9+: drive to your forehand side

position worth 44% to the average player · 750 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
FH crosscourt 65% 51.1%±3.7 46.9%
FH down the line 19% 42.4%±6.3 44.8%
FH through the middle 10% 42.6%±8.3 41.4%
FH slice crosscourt 3% 29.4%±11.2 31.2%
FH slice through the middle 1% 22.8%±12.4 25.4%

Serve under pressure

Pressure predictability index +1 How much less varied Thomas Muster's first-serve direction gets on break points. Positive means easier to read. Based on 293 break-point first serves.

Deuce court

1st serveUsageBreak ptWon when in
Wide 22% 34% ▲ 67% / 73%
Body 16% 16% 59% / 63%
T 62% 50% ▼ 65% / 75%

1,428 normal · 74 break-point 1st serves

Ad court

1st serveUsageBreak ptWon when in
Wide 66% 70% 66% / 73%
Body 12% 11% 64% / 63%
T 22% 19% 73% / 72%

1,138 normal · 219 break-point 1st serves

Is the serve mix in equilibrium?

Game theory says a well-mixed server wins equally often with every direction they use. If one direction wins more, it's underused and points are being left behind. This is the minimax test Walker and Wooders ran on Wimbledon finals, applied to every charted first serve. Win rates include faults. "Optimal" allows for returners reading a habit. No measurable response (−0.05 ± 0.15 points per 100 serves for every 10 points of habitual usage), measured from ATP servers whose mix drifted between matches. Shifts stay within the range servers' habits actually vary, the only range that response was measured over.

Deuce court

1st serveUsagePoints wonOptimal
Wide23% 61.4%±4.2 n=339 36% ▲
Body16% 55.3%±5.0 n=235 3% ▼
T62% 59.9%±2.6 n=928 61%

Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.21).
Optimal mix: +0.7 per 100 first serves.

Ad court

1st serveUsagePoints wonOptimal
Wide67% 61.8%±2.6 n=909 63% ▼
Body12% 67.1%±5.6 n=159 3% ▼
T21% 61.6%±4.5 n=289 34% ▲

Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.28).
Optimal mix: +0.2 per 100 first serves.

Exploitability 0.47 points per 100 first serves What the optimal mix would win over the current one, both courts. More exploitable than 100% of ATP servers. Tested on matches they weren't fitted on, ATP mixes picked this way win 0.33 per 100 first serves on average.

Repeating the previous direction to the same court: +1.1±2.8 points per 100 against switching. Negative means returners read repeats. Tour-wide, repeating costs women about 0.4 points per 100 and costs men nothing, so men's returners don't measurably anticipate direction. (1,405 repeats, 1,394 switches.)

Return by serve direction

Return points won against each serve direction, compared with the tour average.

ServeCourtDirectionPointsWonvs tour
1stAd courtBody 107 32% −4.8±6.6
1stAd courtT 350 26% −1.9±3.7
1stAd courtWide 343 30% +2.8±3.9
1stDeuce courtBody 63 33% −3.4±8.0
1stDeuce courtT 256 23% −2.2±4.1
1stDeuce courtWide 554 31% +3.7±3.1
2ndAd courtBody 135 64% +14.1±6.2
2ndAd courtT 224 47% −2.1±5.2
2ndAd courtWide 237 51% +2.8±5.0
2ndDeuce courtBody 88 56% +6.7±7.5
2ndDeuce courtT 83 47% −2.9±7.7
2ndDeuce courtWide 460 50% +2.2±3.7

Signature patterns

Recurring sequences that win more than Thomas Muster's own baseline, ranked by edge weighted by how often they're used.

Serve → +1

  1. Body serve (ad court) → FH crosscourt used 2.7% · won 60% · −3.5±8.0 vs own baseline
  2. Wide serve (ad court) → BH crosscourt used 3.0% · won 60% · −3.3±7.7 vs own baseline
  3. Wide serve (ad court) → FH down the line used 4.8% · won 59% · −4.7±6.4 vs own baseline
  4. T serve (deuce court) → BH crosscourt used 2.3% · won 56% · −7.3±8.6 vs own baseline
  5. T serve (deuce court) → FH down the line used 2.9% · won 57% · −6.9±7.8 vs own baseline

Return

  1. vs wide serve (ad court) → FH crosscourt, mid used 4.7% · won 49% · +9.0±7.1 vs own baseline
  2. vs wide serve (ad court) → FH through the middle, mid used 3.9% · won 48% · +8.4±7.7 vs own baseline
  3. vs wide serve (deuce court) → FH through the middle, mid used 3.0% · won 49% · +9.1±8.4 vs own baseline
  4. vs wide serve (deuce court) → BH through the middle, short used 2.9% · won 49% · +9.1±8.6 vs own baseline
  5. vs wide serve (ad court) → FH crosscourt, short used 3.2% · won 45% · +5.6±8.2 vs own baseline

Rally, consecutive own shots

  1. BH crosscourt → FH crosscourt used 2.4% · won 57% · +7.0±7.0 vs own baseline
  2. FH inside-in → FH crosscourt used 3.3% · won 55% · +5.9±6.2 vs own baseline
  3. FH down the line → FH crosscourt used 1.3% · won 59% · +9.1±8.8 vs own baseline
  4. FH through the middle → BH crosscourt used 1.4% · won 56% · +6.3±8.5 vs own baseline
  5. BH crosscourt → FH inside-in used 1.3% · won 56% · +6.2±8.9 vs own baseline

Discovered sequences

Mined from every me → opponent → me run of three shots, with no templates. Ranked by how much more often Thomas Muster wins the point once the sequence happens, weighted by how often it happens. Think of them as chess openings.

  1. BH crosscourt → FH crosscourt → FH inside-in used 0.7% · won 61% · +11.0±8.5 vs own baseline · +12.1 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Stefan Edberg (5/8), Sergi Bruguera (11/17)
  2. BH crosscourt → FH through the middle → FH crosscourt used 0.4% · won 64% · +14.1±9.9 vs own baseline · +20.5 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Albert Costa (5/6)
  3. FH crosscourt → BH slice through the middle → FH crosscourt used 0.4% · won 60% · +10.0±10.1 vs own baseline · +8.9 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Ivan Lendl (4/7), Pete Sampras (10/12)
  4. Wide serve → BH through the middle return, mid → FH down the line used 0.2% · won 64% · +13.2±11.8 vs own baseline · +22.7 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Pete Sampras (4/6)
  5. T serve → BH slice through the middle return, mid → FH crosscourt used 0.4% · won 59% · +9.0±10.0 vs own baseline · +3.0 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Boris Becker (2/6), Stefan Edberg (3/7)
  6. BH down the line → BH down the line → BH through the middle used 0.2% · won 62% · +11.8±11.8 vs own baseline · +30.0 vs tour on the same sequence

Strengths and vulnerabilities

Value per 100 shots compared with the average player hitting (strengths) or facing (vulnerabilities) the same shot. Only shot types seen at least 120 times.

Hurts opponents most with

BH to their forehand · return +1+3.6179
FH to their backhand · return +1+3.0358
BH slice to the middle · return+2.9153
FH to the middle · serve +1+2.0218
Body 1st serve · deuce court+1.9235

Most exposed to

BH slice to the middle · return−4.5269
BH to their forehand · return−3.2321
BH slice to their forehand · rally−2.5259
BH slice to the middle · rally−2.4220
FH to the middle · serve +1−2.1147

Active players who are best at the shot in the top weakness: Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Nick Kyrgios, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

Tactical fingerprint

Each bar shows how far a style trait is from the ATP average, in standard deviations.

T serves · deuce62%
Wide serves · ad67%
Forehand share63%
Avg rally length5.1
1st serve in65%
Run-around forehands27%
BH down the line23%
Chipped returns13%
Points at net10%
Serve & volley2%
Through the middle23%
Backhand slice15%
Drop shots / shot0.6%
Point-ending shots17.0%
Unforced errors / shot6.8%
Deep returns15%
FH down the line20%
T serves · ad21%
Wide serves · deuce23%

Plays most like

  1. Albert Ramos 2014–2025 plan v
  2. Rafael Nadal 2003–2024 plan v
  3. Cameron Norrie 2015–2026 plan v
  4. Yoshihito Nishioka 2015–2025 plan v
  5. Federico Delbonis 2013–2023 plan v
  6. Nicolas Massu 2000–2009 plan v
  7. Pablo Cuevas 2015–2021 plan v
  8. Gaston Gaudio 2002–2005 plan v

Closest from another era

  1. Albert Ramos 2014–2025
  2. Cameron Norrie 2015–2026
  3. Yoshihito Nishioka 2015–2025

Charted matches